- Elon Musk's biographer told the FT buying Twitter, now X, was "insane."
- Walter Isaacson said that's because Musk "doesn't have empathy."
Elon Musk's biographer believes that his purchase of Twitter, now X, was "insane" because the billionaire can't understand other people's feelings, the Financial Times reported.
Walter Isaacson made the comments in an interview about his book "Elon Musk," which was released on Tuesday. The former Time magazine editor suggested Musk spent $44 billion on Twitter because he was getting bored with success at his other companies like SpaceX and Tesla.
"Everything was going so well that [Musk] became uncomfortable," Isaacson told the FT. "He doesn't like things when they are going well. He is addicted to drama."
In the biography, Isaacson also writes how Musk considered spending less time at X in favor of larger goals like space colonization and fears about the advance of AI. "It's not like I need to be richer," Musk told him.
Isaacson told the FT that when he heard Musk was buying Twitter, he knew it would be a "rough ride" serving as his biographer.
"I thought it was insane," he added. "Musk doesn't have empathy and so Twitter was not a good fit for him."
The writer explains this further in the biography, saying Musk thought of Twitter "as a technology company, when in fact it was an advertising medium based on human emotions and relationships."
Advertisers have left X in droves since Musk's takeover, which he's blamed on "activist groups" although ad execs also appear concerned by Musk's unpredictable behavior.
And his management of X employees — calling for 80-hour workweeks, and firing those who criticize him or disliked his jokes — suggests Musk isn't the most diplomatic CEO.
The musician Grimes, with whom Musk has three children, told Isaacson that the billionaire's lack of empathy could be related to his Asperger's diagnosis.
"He's not good at reading the room," she said. "His emotional comprehension is just very different from the average human."
X did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.